


Tapetum Lucidum

by interestingword



Category: Eldemore
Genre: tags will come......eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2019-06-14 21:22:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15397725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/interestingword/pseuds/interestingword
Summary: A stranger visits the homestead.But instead of a stranger, it's the protagonist, and instead of homestead, it's just an island filled with pets. And "visit" may be a bit of a strong word, maybe "winds up at" would be more fitting? Or "finds himself in". Certainly not "visit", and all the namby-pamby connotations that has. Anyway. It's exactly what it says on the tin, whateverthatis.





	Tapetum Lucidum

**Author's Note:**

> hypothetically this'll get updated semi-regularly, but we'll see where school takes us, yeah? at any rate i'm just glad to get this punted into the world, because any writing is better than no writing.

Kevin noticed two things before his eyes were fully open. One, he was on top of something soft. Perhaps falling apart, perhaps a little raggedy, but something that was clearly soft - _and intentionally so._ Not like that garbage heap composed of moldy bread he'd found once, no sir, not in the slightest. It was phenomenal, this soft thing, but vastly more pressing was item number two. 

There was another soft thing on top of him. 

He could feel a plush something brushing against his arms and sitting on his chest, exerting a pressure that made him want to just keep his eyes closed and doze off again. Still, in the face of curiosity, people often forget that it's only fatal one in nine times.

So he opened his eyes and saw a dire wolf staring back at him. "Aah!"

"Wruf!" A rough tongue ran over Kevin's face, leaving a trail of slobber from chin to forehead.

Almost immediately footsteps came padding into the room, accompanied by hushed scolding and a whack on the wolf's nose with what seemed to be a spoon. "Bentley! No. No lickies- oh, cool, you're awake."

"Am I?" he mumbled. 

"Bentley! C'mon, you know it's rude to sit on people. Come on. Come on," the weight lifted and landed solidly on the floor, "-good boy, good boy. How about you run and find where your brother is, alright? Okay." As the voice chattered on, apparently not having heard Kevin, he hoped to take the chance to look around and get his bearing before the inevitable hap-

"So!"

Or not. 

"I hope you'll forgive my friend, he can be a little excitable when visitors come around. Are you alright? Did he break anything? I do worry sometimes he's getting too heavy for this, but it's just so hard to get them to stop!"

"No, no, I'm...fine." By now he had pushed himself into a sitting position against one of the arms of what was, apparently, a couch. A real, genuine, not-thrown-out couch. Maybe there really was some higher power out there looking out for him. 

"Oh, good. Anyway, I found you washed up on the beach, and so I figured the safest thing to do would be to bring you in because who knows what's out there, right? And I didn't want you being eaten or getting lost or anything - this is a big island, you know - and oh! Where are my manners! Would you like anything to drink? A cup of tea, anything?"

"Tea?"

"Great! I'll get some for the two of us." And with that the speaker, or rather, his new host, bustled out of the room the same way they had come. Kevin was left to lie there in polite bewilderment. 

Where the hell was he?

\--

A few minutes of polite bewildering later, his new host walked in with two mugs and pressed one of them into his hand. "I didn't know what kind you liked, so I just made you my favorite." They said the name of some brew with a sufficiently garden-esque list of berries, of which only a few were recognizable. Still, it tasted good, and that was all that mattered. 

The two sipped tea in silence. "Do you have any idea how you got here?"

Kevin raised his eyebrows. "No, do you?"

"No."

"Hm. Well, I'm sure it won't be too hard to find my way back, then. By the way, this is wonderful tea." It really was. It was flavored with spices he sometimes caught scents of from the alleys next to shops, and tasted sweet, but not cloyingly so. Like honey. Honey drizzled into a stream of fresh fruit. 

They frowned. "Thank you. But-"

"Oh!" He smacked his forehead, realizing what he had missed. "What's your name?"

"Noe, uh, wh-"

"Kevin! Pleasure." Instinct told him to offer a handshake, but the sudden uncomfortablness that seemed to unfold from Noe told him to wait. Had he done something wrong? Was he not supposed to ask? That was what he had always done, and it hadn't gone wrong like this before. Oh no. What if Noe thought it was rude? Was it rude, to ask someone's name? He set his cup down, watching them more intently than before.

"Hi, Kevin. Listen. What's the last thing you remember?"

A fine, fine couch. "Before I woke up here?"

They frowned. "Yes."

Oh, that was a rough one. A real trick. He was quiet for a minute, trying to walk through the last day or two to pinpoint where things dropped off. Nothing came to mind. He didn't like that. So, instead, he decided on the most likely explanation. "I think...I think I got in a fight."

"A fight?"

"Yeah. You know. A fight. Street brawl. Fistfight. All those...things." He tore his eyes off his tea to spare a nervous glance at Noe, whose expression hadn't changed. "You know?"

"I really don't."

He sighed. "Figures. Anyway, it'll probably come back in a few hours, this isn't the first time something like this as happened."

"No, but I think this may be a little different?" Noe had set down her tea and was now wringing her hands, as if about to tell him something that would sound absurd or that would lead to an adventure which would have to be spanned along multiple chapters instead of in a neatly condensed one-shot fic like the author preferred. "You're kind of on an island."

"Really? Which one?" He was pleasantly surprised, as it had a considerably brighter outlook than the other options he had come up with. Maybe someone had just pitched him onto a boat and it landed here. Certainly it was no reason to get worked up over the implications. 

"Oh, I don't know the name, that's on my to-do list. But it is kind of on the verge of Oblivion's hold."

"Oh." Still not too bad, the two of them could easily escape in the convenient boat he had most assuredly taken to get here. No need to worry, Kevin, just hang in there. 

"And by kind of, I mean it already is. And has been for at least a month already." They winced apologetically, looking for all the world like a dire puppy who knew it had earned itself a solid kick.

"So there's no way off, then?"

"No, I'm...I'm so sorry." 

Kevin was aware that Noe was still speaking, apologizing for his predicament and explaining that they had no idea how he got here even and all that important stuff, but it all fell on deaf ears. All he could really do was stare, blank-eyed and smiling, waiting until his physical soul bored into the wooden walls across the room and through to the other side. 

Maybe he could just stay on the couch a while longer.


End file.
